A Deck Building, Base Defense, Coop, Board Game: XenoShyft Onslaught

So sometimes there is a difference between playing to win and playing to have fun. Some games that pit you against other players can have that competitive drive, but can also lead to unpleasant interactions. The beauty of coop games are you can keep that competitive drive against something, the game, but you still have friends when you’re done. I’ve played a few of them such as Pandemic and Arkham Horror.
I saw Xenoshyft Onslaught on kickstarter and decided to give it a shot. It was a little delayed coming out, like all kickstarters, but I finally had a chance to play it this past weekend. I was impressed. The art design for the game was great, the game itself was easy to learn, and the game was short. It took us about an 1.25 hours for the first play through including setup, reading the rules, and stumbling through the first game. It looks like future games would be less than an hour. Also turns out it’s pretty challenging. We lost at round 7 of 9.
One thing that’s always been a problem with coop games is keeping everyone engaged and from feeling like the game is too easy or repetitive with future games. So far this one has done a good job with providing enough options that you will never have the same combination of units, items, and monsters, keeping each game feeling different. I really enjoyed the game. Feel free to check it out on amazon: